I Got Better
by MintyFishbowl
Summary: An old one-shot I did: After years and years of irritation, Aeris finally tries to end it all, but to her shock, it's not as easy as she had hoped for it to be.


**Man, this is an old one. If you've been here awhile, you may have read it before. This is a 2-year-old update of a one-shot I wrote a LONG time ago, but deleted once I fell out of the fandom. Thankfully, I was able to scavenge this one from the depths of internet archives. Sadly, I can't find my other stories (though I'm considering redoing The Bench or something). For now, enjoy this old one I made. People seemed to like it when it first came out, so I hope the feeling is the same now. Be warned you need to be pretty familiar with the comic to really get the "point" of this, and since VGCats is practically dead, it's pretty easy to forget.  
**

Aeris placed one bullet into the chamber of the revolver. One shot was going to be enough, after all.

The pink cat spun the open chamber of the revolver, the golden casing of the bullet blurring up as it swiftly twirled. The chamber that housed the bullet luckily stopped right at the correct spot, where firing once would send the bullet out of the muzzle of the revolver and into whatever target the marksman desired to aim at. Aeris improvised her jean pocket as a holster for the silver firearm and tucked it under her purple t-shirt. She took a deep breath, making sure that neither morals nor pressure would screw her plans up. Aeris stepped out of the bathroom, turning off the light on the way out, and into the kitchen.

Sounds of Lancer chainsaws slicing up their hopeless victims and bullet-fire echoed from the speakers of the television in the living room. On the couch parallel to the T.V. sat Leo, a grey cat with a blue, long-sleeved t-shirt on. An ostentatious bell, also blue, was connected to a collar that tied around the cat's neck. He looked at the T.V., Xbox controller in hand, with entertainment and glee as he sliced-and-diced his online adversaries in a game of Gears of War 3.

As the round of slaughtering came to a close, he turned to Aeris. "Heh, I didn't hear a flush." He said, smirking at the pink cat that just exited the bathroom. "Did you at least bother to put the seat down?"

Aeris stared straight at the grey cat with an intimidating glare in her half-opened eyes. She needed to stay serious, but still keep her inflammatory ways against Leo bottled up.

Aeris needed to remain concentrated, as what she needed to do asked for no mistakes.

Leo turned back to the screen, where a new round of 'Execution' began. He lay back on the couch in relaxation as his character pressed forward towards the inevitable massacring that was about to begin. Aeris took her beginning steps towards the grey gamer, the glazed glare in her eyes sticking to Leo.

In the game that Leo played, a wretched, disgusting locust took the chainsaw bayonet of his…her…its Lancer to Leo's spinal column, making the human victim yell in agony for the few seconds before his demise. The COG soldier fell to the ground, with one side of his body dismembered from the other.

"Ah, crap!" Leo pouted, his grip on the controller tightening as he stared at the screen in irritation. "The stupid camper!"

Aeris rolled her eyes and sighed as she took a seat next to Leo on the cushiony couch. Even at such a climactic moment like this, she couldn't hide her annoyance. After all, Leo's stupidity and immature nature was what drove Aeris to her decision. It was as though the final nerve in Aeris' mind snapped, and the pink cat finally felt obliged to rid herself of the anger and stress in her life…

Leo leaned back onto the couch and planted his feet onto the coffee table, accepting his virtual fate without anymore whining.

Aeris took the remote of the TV and put the speakers on mute, silencing all of the chaos that was arising in the game at hand, much to Leo's confusion. She took a deep inhale through her nose and gave out a slow, comforting exhale as she stared to Leo. "Leo, you've done a lot for me in my life." She said, staring down at her lap.

Leo, who was still perplexed as to why she silenced the TV, brought his eyesight to Aeris in confusion. "Hm?"

Aeris turned her eyes to Leo's perplexed face. "I said you've done a lot," she repeated, "and to be honest, I don't enjoy the things you've done."

Leo rolled his pupils around his eyeballs. He was planning for a nice night of gaming, not a lecture. "Like what?" He said with a smirk, hoping that it would irritate his pink companion.

Without hesitation, Aeris replied to Leo's humored question. "Spending my money on boxes of rocks, making the most atrocious mom jokes ever conceived, and forcing me to associate with those socially-awkward idiots you call your friends, to name a few. "

"Who? Like Pantsman?"

"Especially Pantsman."

Leo gave Aeris a look of intrigued bewilderment, unknowing of what to say to her. After seconds passed, Aeris decided to speak up in his place.

"You see, Leo," She began, little emotion in her voice, "some people have…limits. Limits as to how much somebody can tolerate in their life, and when that limit is reached, they can do stuff that's considered…pretty fucking insane."

Leo chuckled, actually being amused by Aeris' perplexing behavior. "What are you talking about?" He asked in delight.

Aeris cocked an eyebrow. Was Leo actually being amused by her suspicious behavior? She wanted to strike fear into the grey cat, not entertainment. Anyone else would have at least shown a little bit of distrust to her, but Leo…was different. It was almost as if his idiocy shielded him from worry or fret, in an ironic twist of fate. It irked Aeris to no end, but she kept her annoyance to a minimum. After all, it was all going to be over soon enough…

"What I'm trying to say is that you've made me hit that limit." Aeris answered, sliding her hand to her right pocket. "As a result, I'm feeling the tendency to do something that may be pretty desperate to you, but very relieving to me."

"Rape?" Leo asked, a mischievous grin on his face as he felt satisfied with his joke.

Aeris growled quietly. Would nothing bring this grey cat to act seriously? Would nothing make him stop his wise-cracking attitude? Aeris pondered these questions for a split second, but then inferred that Leo needed to be in the face of danger and threat to truly act solemnly. It had to be the one thing that would shut his humored face up; it must've been...

Aeris cocked back the hammer of the revolver in her right pocket, the side that was invisible to Leo's perception, and kept the gun at her side. She calmed down her ever-growing impatience and stared back to Leo. "Leo, all I can hope for is that you understand why I'm doing this. I'm tired of it all: the mom jokes, the immaturity, the boxes of rocks…everything."

Hastily, Aeris pulled out the loaded and readied firearm in position, and pointed the muzzle straight at Leo's white nose. Aeris could've just fired now. All she needed to do was squeeze the trigger. However, she was feeling vengeful sadism beneath her apathy, and she wanted every last ounce of fear to drop out of Leo. It would be a satisfying way to end it, after all. Aeris hoped that Leo would symbolize the fear as the stress she always went through. However, knowing Leo's intellect, Aeris didn't hold her breath. Still, she wanted some terror to rise onto Leo's face, like the appetizer she would enjoy before the main course.

Leo pointed his eyesight directly towards the gun, and after a brief pause…laughed.

"That's a fake, right?" He asked with a smirk. "You know, like one of those airsoft guns?"

Aeris quickly brought the gun up to Leo's nose and rubbed the muzzle back and forth across the middle of his face. "No…it's not." Aeris replied through her gritting teeth. She guessed that all she needed to do was to break apart every bit of doubt and disbelief in Leo's careless mind. He needed pure confirmation that he was truly in grave danger, and hopefully some intimidation would strike that into his mind.

Leo looked at the gun with curiosity, like an ecstatic child. "So, it's real?"

Aeris nodded.

Leo looked down at the firearm with a smaller amount of emotion in his stare. Aeris' stomach jumped, as she truly believed that she finally beat the grey cat's overabundant sense of humor and carelessness. Oh, how ignorant this pink feline was, for even she was unaware of what Leo could handle in his miniscule mind.

Leo gradually grew an almost daunting grin. "Meh, you don't have the guts to fire anyway."

Aeris' mouth became agape. A gun was pointed at Leo's nose, with one bullet in the chamber, ready to end his life, and he reacts with a dare? This was a level of stupidity, naivety, and ignorance that not even Aeris was every shown from Leo. Spending three hundred dollars on a box of rocks was bad, but being able to not even feel a flinch of fear when facing the end of a gun was…almost scaring Aeris.

"Excuse me?" Aeris asked, pure loathing in her frown as she pressed the gun against Leo's face. "What was that?"

Leo stuck his tongue out at the hateful pink cat. "You heard what I said; you don't have the balls to fire."

Aeris growled loudly at Leo. She slid the muzzle up to Leo's temple. "Are you SURE you want to take that chance?"

Leo shrugged with an entertained grin. "Hey, why not?" He answered. "Nobody gets in life without taking chances."

Aeris gazed at Leo's happy-go-lucky face. "So, I can kill you right now, with one squeeze of the trigger, and all you can react with is by daring me?"

Leo's smile grew wider. "Yeah, like I said, you don't have the guts to fire, Pretty in Pink."

Aeris' frustration brought her to jitter in pure fury. Nothing would work; nothing would make this cat drop his act. Aeris was fighting an uphill battle; a battle that she would never win, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't believe that such an ignorant, stupid cat could use his idiocy to prevail over her. It was almost as if she was just as stupid as the grey cat himself. Leo was performing one of the most ironically successful acts he could ever make against Aeris. No mom-joke, rock boxes, or sexual innuendo could satisfy the grey cat as much as this, and neither could they infuriate Aeris as much.

And, at that moment, Aeris was brought to her true limit. Intimidation and fear was out of the question, and replaced with pure bloodthirst. She required no cry, dread, or terror anymore. All she wanted to see was the grey cat fall before her…and that he did.

**BANG!**

The gunfire was as ear-piercing as any gunshot, and made Aeris' ears hurt profusely for a matter of seconds. However, as she looked down at the ground, she could feel nothing but relief.

There lay Leo, with blood pouring onto the carpet and brain matter scattered across the floor. The grey cat's pupils traveled backwards into his body, leaving only white, soulless eyeballs. His mouth was closed, with no emotion present in the cadaver's facial expression.

The hole in the grey cat's temple was clean and smooth, indicating a perfect shot. However, Aeris could not see the bullet, and assumed that it was somewhere in the victim's head. She holstered the hot, empty gun back into her pocket and let out a deep, long sigh.

There it goes, I guess…gone with the wind. All of the stress, the idiocy, the ignorance…gone…

Everything went quiet. The echo from the revolver fire was gone, and the TV, which displayed Leo's COG soldier standing motionlessly, was still muted. The only sound that could was the minimal breaths coming and going from Aeris' nose.

Aeris continued to stare at the carcass, an apathetic glare in her eyes. Her bliss and relief was coming to her at a gradual pace, and at that moment, all she wanted to worry about was getting rid of the evidence: the idiot himself.

Aeris turned back to walked to the hallway closet, where she placed the shovel she was going to need to dispose of the corpse earlier. She grabbed the wooden handle of the tool and dragged it back to the living room, not anticipating having to drag Leo's lifeless body out to the backyard.

Brain matter and blood was still spilled across the carpet, just like before, but as Aeris returned to the living room where the murder took place, Leo's body was worse than dead, worse than mutilated, and worse than repulsive...it was gone.

Aeris recoiled back in shock and dropped her shovel onto the ground. She stared in horror, gawking at the lack of Leo's carcass. Shaking, she turned her head ecstatically across the room, looking for some sign or answer, but none were revealed to her...

_The Body! Where the fuck is the bo-_

At least until the front door began knocking.

Aeris jumped at the sound of the knocking, her trepidation growing with every waking second. However, fear lead to impulses, and impulses lead to curiosity. Aeris needed answers; she demanded them. Was this all a dream? Some hallucination in Aeris' mind? She didn't know, but maybe whatever awaited her at the door would give her the answer.

Preparing herself, Aeris picked up the shovel and held it up above her head as she walked slowly towards the door. She shuffled her feet slowly as she reached the doormat and, carrying the shovel in the right hand, opened the door with the left.

Once again, Aeris dropped the shovel as she jumped back in pure terror, for there, in the darkness of the night, stood an unharmed, unscathed Leo Leonardo.

A happy smile was spread across the grey cat's face.

Aeris stumbled back and fell onto the floor as Leo walked in, keeping up his careless smile. The pink cat hyperventilated and curled up into a ball at the terrifying sight, shocked to the point of being unable to move. Her heart was beating at an alarming rate, almost as though it were about to just give up and die of exhaustion. Too many questions plagued Aeris' mind, but her feeling of pure horror prevented her from even attempting to answer a single one.

Leo gave no reaction to the jittering, frightened Aeris, and instead walked back to the living room, where the muted game of Gears of War 3 still went on. Aeris, now feeling a bit more confused than terrified, slowly stood back up, but continued to breathe heavily. She gazed at the silent grey cat, who picked the Xbox controller back up and continued to play, not even paying attention to the fact that his own blood and brain fragment on the floor.

Aeris stood still as she watched the abstract scene. However, realizing that Leo was paying no attention to her, she slowly shuffled her feet to the silverware drawer in the kitchen and grabbed a sharp steak knife. She held the rusty, dull cutting device with one hand and she slowly walked forward to the living, her legs shaking in anxiety. All she could hope for now was that curiosity wasn't going to kill this cat, because curiosity was taking over the girl as she stared at Leo.

"Leo?" Aeris asked, anxiety and trepidation present in her voice as she held up the knife.

Leo gave no reply to Aeris, and continued to play the muted game in peace. However, he was killed by the chainsaw bayonet of a Lancer once more, eliminating Leo's character from the game. At this, Leo shrugged, keeping up his almost playful smile. Slowly, he set the Xbox controller onto the table in front of him and walked up to the drawer under the TV set, much to Aeris' confusion. She kept her knife up and made no sound, with the exception of her fearful breathing.

Leo reached his hand into the drawer and dug around for a bit. After a moment, he pulled out his hand to reveal a Nintendo 64 controller in his grasp. Leo gazed upon the controller almost ominously, and after some brief seconds of staring, turned back to Aeris.

"I haven't used this baby in a long time." Leo said, unraveling the tangled cord of the wired controller. After fully taking out all of the knots and tangles in the cord, he stared up to Aeris. "Heh, you remember wired controllers, Aeris?" He asked with a humored smirk on his face.

Aeris began to hold the steak knife in pure defensiveness. All she could believe in this moment of ominous was that she was in danger. After all, the cat that she just blew the brains out of resurrected from the dead in mere seconds. Aeris believed that he would show some bit of inflammation if not hatred towards her, but why not? Was his memory completely wiped? Was he just the most forgiving cat to ever exist? Before Aeris could do anything about the reincarnated grey cat, she needed answers.

Leo stood back up and turned his face to Aeris. "What do you think about wired game controllers, Aeris?" He asked once more, sliding his hand across the long cord of the controller. "Still usable or completely outdated? Because to me, I believe that they're…"

He brought his other hand from the controller to the wire, and at that moment, gave a mischievous grin.

"…still usable."

Leo began taking slow steps towards Aeris, which made the pink cat jump in surprise. Defensively, she held the knife in front of her, the tip of the blade facing the approaching Leo.

"Leo, if you don't tell me what the fuck is going on, I won't think twice!" Aeris exclaimed desperately, backing up as she pointed the blade.  
Leo turned his face to the controller, walking at a faster pace. "I don't know what you're talking about, Aeris."

Aeris backed up into the fridge, stopping her movement while Leo continued to approach her. The pink cat's stomach churned with each loud step Leo took to her. As Leo reached the distance of a foot in front of Aeris, she began to whimper in trepidation. The tip of the knife began to poke at Leo's blue shirt, despite the grey cat paying no attention to it. Aeris, noticing the opportunity, turned her head back up to Leo and tightened her grip around the knife.

"If you come any closer, Leo, I swear, I'll fucking do it!" She yelled, keeping the knife pointed at Leo's abdomen. Aeris knew nothing of what to expect. Would Leo give into her demands if declining them would cost him his life? Knowing how Leo reacted to having a gun pointed at his head, Aeris didn't hold her breath at that idea. All she knew was that she was going to do what her impulses told her, but what those impulsive urges would be was a complete mystery to her.

Leo paused, but continued to smile as he held the cord that dangled the game controller in the air. He stared down at the knife with interest in his eyes. "That's a fake, right?"

Aeris' ignored him, loathing the idea of starting any conversation. Finally, Leo's smile disappeared as Aeris disregarded his questioning. "Man, that's not fun, Aeris." He moaned, giving Aeris the biggest puppy-dog look he could give. Hoping to get something out of Aeris, he attempted to take a step forward.

Aeris screamed and, when her impulses finally got the best of her, thrust the knife forward, piercing Leo's abdomen.

The grey cat took an enormous gulp as the knife impaled him. Blood began to seep through the well-sized wound, covering Aeris' knife in crimson red blood. Aeris, not feeling as though it was enough, drove the steak knife deeper into Leo's stomach, making the grey cat give out another asphyxiated gasp. Blood began to pour out of Leo's mouth, the red liquid staining his grey fur and blue shirt.

Aeris' hand began to shake, questioning what to do next. With no other idea on what to do, she removed the silverware from Leo's abdomen, allowing more blood to flow through his stomach wound. As the knife was removed, Leo stumbled to the ground, covering his stab wound with his hand. Blood continued to flow through his fingers and onto the ground, creating a bloody spillage on the wood floor of the kitchen. Aeris just stared at the horrific image in silent shock, the knife in her hand soaked in red blood, from handle to tip.

Losing all of his energy, Leo dropped himself down onto the floor, splashing into the pool of blood below him. The Nintendo 64 controller dropped onto the ground with a loud bang, but the plastic casing remained unharmed. Leo took several more heavy gasps in hyperventilation, and when the blood in his throat fully suffocated him, closed his eyes and made no more sounds. The game controller flowed slowly in the stream of blood, like a lily pad floating down a river.

Aeris jittered, the bloodied knife in her hand, as she gazed upon Leo, deceased once more. But why? How? Was he really dead this time? A bullet to the temple wasn't enough, but was a stab to the stomach?

Aeris didn't know the answer to any of these questions, but all she wanted was a simple 'yes' to be her answer. However, Aeris knew the rule of 'safety first', so she did the first thing that came to her mind in her state of mental unstableness.

Aeris bent down on one knee, readied the knife in her hand, and drove the blade into the spinal column of the late Leo Leonardo. Aeris could hear the crack of the rock-hard bone as she planted the knife deeper and deeper into the cadaver. It repulsed her with each crack, but she needed to be sure that this wouldn't happen again, and she was willing to risk her comfort to do that.

Aeris took the knife out of the cat's spine, allowing more blood to flow out of his deceased body. The cat was definitely down, but was he out? Out for good? Even after paralyzing the dead body, Aeris remained unsure and unsafe.

With a loud war cry, Aeris plunged the blade into the back of Leo's head, right between his pointed up ears. As quickly as she could, she took out the knife and repeated the motion, again and again. As she did, she screamed an ear-piercing shriek, feeling as though she was going to go insane because of what happened. Each quick stab made Aeris feel more safe, more assured that the grey menace was dead. However, she was no longer doing it out of revenge, fury, or irritation. The pink cat was frightened to no end, and each jab of the knife into Leo's head only soothed her minimally.

After the umpteenth stab, Aeris stopped all actions except for her breaths. Leo's head was drenched in blood, with more and more of the red substance flowing down the newly produced wound. The Nintendo 64 controller's beige casing was given a nice red paintjob with Leo's blood, with the analog stick and each of the buttons getting drenched as well.

The disgusting image disgusted Aeris to no end, and the thought that she caused this mess only sickened her more, both physically and mentally. However, she couldn't keep her eyes off of it, as she believed that if her gaze was removed from Leo, he would only return.

What was she to do? Stare at this mangled, revolting body for the rest of her sentient life? Take away her gaze, hoping that Leo was truly gone this time? Aeris had no idea on which poison to pick, and all she was aware of was how sick she began to feel, both physically and mentally.

When Aeris couldn't handle her illness any longer, she clenched her eyes shut and vomited. The disgusting substance fell to the floor near Leo and the puddle of blood he floated in.

Aeris spat constantly, getting the repulsive taste out of her mouth. Wiping the residue from her lips, she opened her eyes once more, and at the sight of what she saw, all she could do was scream.

For Leo, once again, disappeared. The grey cat, along with the Nintendo 64 controller he brought with him, were absent, leaving only Aeris' vomit and the puddle of fresh blood.

The pink cat got up to her feet and screamed, screamed louder than she ever did. It was just as loud as the bullet that drove through Leo's skull and brain, and louder the war cry she made when she drove the knife deeper and deeper into his head. Horror was the only thing she could feel. She didn't question, wonder, or think once. All she did was let out her unimaginable terror to the world.

This went on for several seconds: the screams of the terrified girl and the staring upon the puddle of blood, until Aeris was brought down to the ground by an unexpected force.

Aeris fell to the ground with a loud crash. A large amount of weight was crushing down onto the pink cat's back. What felt like kneecaps were driving into her scapula, making her yell in pain. Once Aeris began to attempt to grasp what was happening, she turned her head to her side, desperately needing to see what was happening to her…

The intact Leo, without a scratch on his body, smiled as he knelt on Aeris' backside. The clean, black cord of the Nintendo 64 controller was smooth and long, exactly what the grey cat needed. Once Aeris saw the grey figure that happily sat on her, she screeched a yell that covered about every negative emotion: anger, sadness, confusion, angst…

Leo continued to smile at the crying female as he kneeled on her. He wanted to hear Aeris talk before he did what he needed to do. How else would it be any fun for him? It wouldn't be the action that would amuse Leo, but the reaction.

As Aeris screamed, she could feel the questioning side of her come into context. At the same volume of her ear-splitting scream, she bellowed out to the grey cat.

"NO! NO! I KILLED YOU! I FUCKING KILLED YOU!"

Finally getting what he wanted, Leo let out a happy laugh. There was no evil or sadism in his chuckling, but rather happiness and entertainment, like a newborn kitten playing with a toy. After his amused laughter, Leo gazed down at Aeris with his always happy smile, and whispered into her ear:

"Don't worry...I got better…"

With that said, Leo roped the cord of the Nintendo 64 controller around the terrified Aeris multiple times, much to her dread. She tried to get out of his control, but Leo was stronger than Aeris realized, and managed to keep the pink cat pinned down to the bloodied mess of a floor. With the gamepad in one hand and the plug in the other, Leo pulled back with all of his might, tightening the cord around Aeris' throat.

Aeris couldn't scream anymore, for she could not breathe. She clawed at the game controller's cord, hoping to cut the cable, but the tubing was too thick for Aeris' talons to penetrate. She kicked her legs back and forth, trying to get Leo off of her, but to no avail. Each kick either missed the target or didn't affect Leo at all, who only gave his childish smirk as he pulled the cord and controller back.

Pressure grew in Aeris' head, and a terrible migraine began to form. However, the pain in her temple halted, as Aeris could feel no more. Her body numbed up, her chokes stopped, and her pupils traveled into her head as her pink-furred face collapsed to the ground.

Leo let out a loud sigh in pleasure as he unraveled the cord from Aeris' neck. He stared down upon the body of his pretty pink friend with a beam on his face, and eventually turned away to walk back to the living room.

Leo lowered the Nintendo 64 controller onto the table, picked up his Xbox 360 gamepad, and sank into the couch. A new round of Gears of War 3 had started for the gamer, and throughout the revolting, nauseating scent of vomit, blood, and dead flesh, all Leo could think about was taking down the person that mutilated his body with the bayonet of a Lancer…


End file.
